MOSCOW, July 25 - RAPSI. The Thirteenth Commercial Court of Appeals will hear on September 17 a complaint submitted by Rostelecom's minority shareholders on the dismissal of their lawsuit challenging the inclusion of board members into a new stock option program, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency on Wednesday.

In June, the Rostelecom board of directors approved amendments to the long-term employee stock ownership plan by launching an additional stock option program to be implemented based on 39.555 million preferred shares deposited in the account of the 99.99-percent Rostelecom subsidiary Mobitel. The program scope is 3.5 billion rubles ($119.5 million).

Rostelecom minority shareholders Oleg Ashurkov and Sergei Boltenkov have stated that the board resolution is invalid as it was never discussed at a general shareholders meeting.

Both plaintiffs maintain that shareholder rights were violated because they were not given the opportunity to discuss or vote on the fee amounts or payments for board members.

Rostelecom is a major telecommunications operator.